I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is a question about the English language in a book that happens to be written by a lawyer's relative, not anything to do with law itself.

I'm not sure if it's accurate to frame this question as written by a lawyer's relative, when that relative's citing Lord Bingham verbatim; or about only English, when this question can't be answered without legal knowledge.

The quote is obviously not about law - are discussing why an acquaintance of the writer did not enjoy a book recommended to them, and speaking of a philosophical disagreement.
– NijDec 13 '17 at 22:24

If you have an actual source written by Lord Bingham, you should provide that, rather than an allegation by a a third party as to what Bingham said. You can conjecture that this is what Lord Bingham said, and it's not unreasonable to think that he might have said it. The literature is replete with misrememberances and ex post facto reconstructions.
– user6726Dec 18 '17 at 1:42

1 Answer
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If this quote came from a judgement or a statute it would be appropriate to ask here. It didn't: it is explicitly a quote about "speculative philosophy" for which there is a stack exchange site, just not this one.